Its not a ridge racer game. Its burnout meets trackmania without a clear focus. The game is based around beautiful destruction physics but in order to destroy other cars, you need to drift, chase, or destroy items. Destroying items is worthless since you get a fraction of the boost needed, so you tend to be drifting a lot.

However the ai just gains boost at a steady pace, meaning they will just boost whenever their meter is full. The boost itself is odd, its designed around strategic use to either power through a corner, destroy a city target to get more speed/shortcuts, or take out a racer but instead the game requires you to be constantly boosting in order to keep up. As well, there are no mechanics to allow players to catch up. None of the short cuts drastically change the map and the leader can use his boost to open it up anyways so there is no way for someone behind him to catch up unless he messes up.

Given the nature boost is gained, the late game is also to the favor of the leader as there are less targets available and players are more spread out.

Combat is also weird. There are no rewards for damaging cars, and you don't get boost if you frag someone in a special way ala burnout. Also unlike later burnout entries, there is only one type of car per race. As a result, cars with good acceleration and speed trump all else since they can drift fine and use boost to make up for any lose of speed.

The game does have one very interesting part and thats the special events. These include some trackmania esque maps where you have to get to the finish line while hitting targets.

But what sells the game to me is the sense of destruction. The objects you destroy remain on the track making the track feel more and more wartorn and whenever you destroy a car you see an amazing slow motion view of it bouncing. It never got old for me.

As for the default levels, they are pretty generic and some end up being confusing since they reuse prefabs in an unusual way. The events aren't always balanced, either, some will prove to be a pain since you just don't have the right car for it or others are so easy because you can use a car that the level wasn't balanced for.

The star is the player-made levels, of which there are tons, which use the ingame editor and allow for a nice variety of fun and bizarre levels. The game to me seems like a case where there was a pre-existing game that was adapted with the ridge racer brand and then rushed into development.

I say get the game if you like arcade destruction racing , the 10 dollar price tag is appropiate but with games like carmageddon and NCG, there are more focused alternatives.

Is a long-review really necessary? *Sigh*Well if nothing can be done about it, let's dive in.

I've been a Ridge Racer fan for quite a long time. Aside from Ridge Racer Vita, R: Racing Evolution, and maybe Rave Racer, I've played all the games. I'm extensively familiar with the series, but that's irrelevant. Unbounded is...I don't know what it is. Was it some game Namco bought and then had some RR music and cars included to tie everything together? I don't know. So yeah, if I compare this game to RR, or hell if I so much has even mention that game, then I've lost.

Unbounded takes place in Shatter Bay, where a mysterious group is involved in illegal street racing. Apparently they hate the city almost as much as they hate each other. This is one of those racing games where not only can you obliterate your rivals, but you can also bust through cafes, government buildings, and construction sites for a shortcut. The similarities to Burnout are pretty obvious, though in this game "checking" a rival is a bit more binary.

By catching air, drifting, and/or receiving various in-race awards, the player gets boost. Aside from a temporary increase in speed, anyone you run into during that brief period is going to get wrecked. This is about a 95% chance. If you're grinding next to someone (oh my) and you hit the boost, they're going to turn into flaming wreckage instantly. When not boosting you have a 5% chance of wrecking someone. This is a neat way to reverse all the dirty tricks that can happen in a usual race. Say you're one of two racers making a turn. You're on the outside, and the inside guy is using you as a buffer to avoid hitting the wall. This is a great time to boost because they'll suffer dearly. Also whenever you wreck an opponent, the game auto-corrects your car, so you don't drive into a wall or anything. Exploiting this mechanic can be quite handy.

Your opponents can boost as well, and aside from the red trail there's no obvious indication that they've boosted. Something like a sound effect could have been really useful. As it stands you're better off handling the other racers with kid gloves (especially if they're cheating AI), because they could boost at potentially any moment and take you out. Boosting is also necessary for certain destructable objects. Their usefulness in the actual race varies, and they could just as easily glitch out and cause you to flip over or get turned around. To unlock more races you have to amass a lot of points, destroying stuff is how you get them.

There are no shortage of tracks in this game. That's because they're all created via a track-editor. It's a neat idea but not really fleshed out. Basically each track is divided into sections. Let's say there is a straight-away, a curve to the right, a squiggly line, a hard-angle right, a dip, a long-easy right, a hairpin right, and that's the track. A lot of time in arcade-racers is spent learning the track itself, but with this game it doesn't seem to matter much at all. Instead you familiarize yourself with particular turns (the 1 or 2 difficult ones to be precise). While the track-editor allows further customization by adding objects and other tools, it's not as deep as it could be. Let's call it a limitation of the game-design. It's difficult to create ornate tracks when it's expected that a handful of racers are trying to destroy each other. There are a lot of created tracks floating around, and some are really interesting. Consider spending some time checking things out online.

I don't like the handling. Normally I'd just tack this on to the end of a huge paragraph, but it's the #1 reason why I couldn't take anymore of this game. The main reason I don't like it is because it's inconsistent. With some games drifting has either A) a sizable learning curve, or B) can be picked up in the first few seconds. Both A & B work on their own. Daytona USA** is an A type, while Ridge Racer (I lose!) is a B type. Both games have appropriate learning curves, and mastering them is an exceptional feat despite the wildly different barriers of entry. Unbounded can't be an A type because the tracks aren't nearly as involved and well-designed. There's only so much you can do with such a base-selection of turns. Unbounded isn't a B type either because the cars have more weight, it takes more counter-steering not to lose control, and deciding between what type of brake to use to initiate the drift is more important. Essentially the system just doesn't gel for me, but I guess it doesn't matter.

This game apparently considers good drifting somewhere towards the bottom of "things you should actually be concerned about in a race". In the career mode there are very few time-attack races, and even then they have gimmicks like icons you pick up to freeze the clock. There are drifting events too, but you don't think about applying what you've picked up in an actual race. It's hard to appreciate a good drift in this game, when it's usually more effective to barrel through the opposition with a boost. Sometimes the winner is merely the racer that managed to get away from the chaos. More often than not, driving skill takes a backseat.

Altogether Unbounded just isn't satisfying. It never flicks the "Hell Yeah!" switch in my brain. Quad-kills, surviving a brutally difficult platforming section, or just executing the perfect drift through the hardest turn, these are just some of the many "Hell Yeah!" moments. Unbounded has never in my 7 hours* of play elicited that same response. I do all these supposedly awesome things but it's just not exciting at all.

*Yes I realize that by playing the game for a sizable amount of time, I've opened myself up to comments such as "If you didn't like the game, why'd you play it for that long?" I was ready to quit this game after 2 hours, but that wouldn't be fair would it? Although, I probably should have beat the game, but playing Unbounded for 10+ hours is just too much to ask of me.

Sorry.

**In Daytona USA it's called power-sliding. It's the same but different. DETAILS.

A tough and challenging game but a good one that i really liked id only recommend this to anyone who really loves car games and looking for a real challenge, cause this one will really test your skills and consistency but if your only looking for a fun racing game i wouldnt recommend this because this one is more for hardcore racers 9/10

The title of this game is probably badly chosen because this has nothing to do with any previous Ridge Racer games.This is an arcade style racer with an accent on destruction and explosions.Im not a big fan of racers and not a fan of destruction racers at all, but for some reason i liked this game.The graphics have a style that only Namco could achieve, really classy as you can expect from any Namco game.The gameplay is actually fun and after the initial frustration and "wtf" moments, the game grew on me.Id say its my fave racing game in my library...but keep in mind im not a racing fan...at all.

The game is unfair and has some not so well designed parts but despite all this, its fun to play over and over.

I bought this a while ago when it was heavily discounted at $10 and never regretted.Now its full price is $10 and its discounted at roughly $3-4, more than worth it even if for the style alone.

I bought this expecting ridge racer, Instead I got Burnout revenge, a beautiful Burnout Revenge, but Burnout revenge none the less. THIS GAME IS NOT RIDGE RACER, IT HAS NO ELEMENTS FROM THE OTHER GAMES. except the F/A Racing team car from the original PS1 game, which i apreciate.

3/10 would play EA Games' Burnout instead

side note; (at least they used a GOOD skrillex song without making electronic music look stupid)

Get this game on sale, it's amazingly fun, highly optimized, quite replayable (if your memory for tracks is as bad as mine), rich lustrous graphics on PC, upbeat music, overall this game seems seriously underappreciated. This is one of the better games out there, wish there were some multiplayer folks willing to give this a try but everyone loves Wreckfest NCG these days (which admittedly has far more realistic driving and physics). But this is fun too! Especially if you don't have a G27 wheel yet. I guess I'll try and find some other players who like it as much as I do.

Pros:- Great sense of speed, as long as you don't run into anything "non-destructible" in the environment, so it pays to learn the course.- Polished graphics, widescreen support via "Flawless Widescreen" thanks to HaYDeN, super fun with three monitors. The nVidia 3D surround works somewhat, it's much better than EA's pathetic "Need For Speed: Most Wanted" but of course nowhere near as good as it is in real simulation games like Assetto Corsa, Dirt or even Euro Truck Simulator (!). - Tons of cars to unlock, althoughthey all seem to handle very similarly, the only thing that matters seems to be speed and acceleration.- The AI seems to be very "rubber band" algorighm based, with somewhat suicidal tendencies (this could be good or bad, But overall the randomness aspect of it all keeps it fun, it's a bit like baseball -- 2/3 of the time nothing interesting happens, but when you get it right, it's a home run. - Lots of destruction, which is rewarded, so keep a lookout for those targets and try to have your boost ready to go when you hit them. Hitting them without boost feels pretty silly, errp!- Great singleplayer, lots of crazy tracks, frag challenges with a truck, quite a lot of fun trying to hit all the destructible stuff.- Community-generated maps can be downloaded too, and there's a map editor.- Great multiplayer races (if there were any players).

Cons:- Upbeat music, easy to switch tracks. There's scanner radio chatter or in-game commentary so it feels a bit isolated from real life compared to Burnout or NFS where the audio is somewhat better and makes the game more immersive.- Doesn't seem to be any car customization, except maybe the colour of the paintjob (similar to "NFS: Most Wanted").- The initial logon to the server takes quite a long time, and doesn't seem to be bypassable if you only want a quick singleplayer game.- Weird controls, but seems possible to get them to work eventually. Not sure if this game even supports the Logitech G27 wheel, I need to try. At the moment, I've only played it using "Better DS3" and a Sony DualShock3 (with a piece of elastic to hold the throttle/trigger down, otherwise my hand got tired accelerating all the time!).- It's kinda strange that bugbear hasn't provided any patch to fix the occasional crash when quitting the game, as they're normally amazingly careful about their code, you can see their thoughtful work on Wreckfest NCG.

Overall, it's well worth it, especially if you get it in a Steam sale. Would be worth every penny if you can get a few friends together and play the hell out of it without any of those loony AI doing weird stuff.

I've been a Ridge Racer fan from the beginning. I purchased a day 1 Playstation together with a copy of Ridge Racer and put countless hours in that game. Winning from the "devil car" as the final achievement was wonderfull. Even though the game had only 1.5 track(s) did not matter, because the layout of the track was simply perfect. Than came Ridge Racer revolution (ridge Racer evolution was a better name) and again I played that game countless hours. Getting the "devil car" and "angel car" took a big effort, but the game simply played as the perfect arcade racer.

Than Namco released Rage Racer and the series slowely started to loose it charm but still it felt like a Ridge Racer game. Ridge Racer Type 4, released after Rage Racer, included a remake of Ridge Racer 1, now with slightly better graphics, and 60fps. Ridge Racer 5 for the Playstation 2, which included a remake of the orginal track, was the last game I bought in the Ridge Racer series, until this piece of ♥♥♥♥. Don't let the name fool you, this is NOT a Ridge Racer game. It doesn't play as a Ridge Racer game and it doesn't look like a Ridge Racer game. This is Flatout abusing the name of Ridge Racer. If you enjoyed Ridge Racer, than stay the hell away from this game.

I think I will hook up my old PS1 to play some proper Ridge Racer now.

Excellent arcadey racer right here!The game is focused on five (give or take) different modes, with domination being the main one. You collect points on each race to unlock more races, coming first sometimes doesn’t' guarantee unlocking later races (especially in the later game) so the game forces you to race aggressively which in my opinion makes the game really fun. Also the mechanics of the boost are really well made and add a layer of strategy.The game also has a track maker with a lot of additional player made content already available that you can enjoy once the main cities are finished.Overall I really don't understand how come this game isn't more popular, I got this on sale after I played the demo and I can easily say it's well worth the full price!

Great game. It reminds me of all the crazy racing games I played when growing up. I would just drive in the wrong direction and crash into everyone rather than try to win anything! It's focused more on action than simulation which is perfect for me. If you just want some fast paced action then give it a try. But be warned it takes some time to master. The racing relies more on your ability to create shortcuts by plowing through certain obstables and blowing up your opponents rathern than pure racing skill. The best way to get power points for a boost is to learn how to drift properly and destroying objects. It's the only ridge racer game I've ever played so I cant comment on whether not it lives up to its predecessors.

(Be prepared to read a VERY descriptive review. TL;DR is at the bottom.)

The game's introduction is very simple, and explains to the player how Shatter Bay came to be, only to turn into a urban playground for the Unbounded. As a beginner, the player is convinced by the hashiriya master to join the Unbounded, and seeks higher recognition by moving up the ranks.

Now, if you've played any of the Ridge Racer titles preceding this one, you'll find that this particular title mostly leaves any traditional aspect of the older games in the dust. However, do note that Unbounded was produced alongside major game developer Bugbear Entertainment, the same folks behind the Flatout series and, most recently, Next Car Game: Wreckfest. Bugbear's role in developing Unbounded was one of the major factors in producing this game.

The single-player mode is very simple. The player has to race through the districts within Shatter Bay and dominate every one of them. These districts very in location and theme, from the lower parts to the docks to even the city center. Now, each district has a set of challenges that get tougher and tougher as the player moves from district to district. These events are filtered out into specific types, from the standard Domination Race to my personal favorite, Drift Attack. Unbounded also adds a ranking system to game, where you unlock more & more features by gaining EXP and moving yourself up higher on the list. Now, from my playthrough of Unbounded, I found that these challenges often felt a little repetitive, considering that they all take place within their respective districts and can only offer so much in terms of visuals.

Gameplay is where Bugbear's changes come into light. The physics system is completely different compared to traditional Ridge Racer titles, with drifting through corners feeling more realistic instead of the old-fashioned "go through a turn drifting at 300 km/h" approach. However, from my playthough experience, the physics of Unbounded are easy to adjust to, with a slight learning curve. There's new gameplay mechanics implemented into Unbounded, the most notable being Frags and Targets. Frags are the Unbounded equivalent of Burnout's Takedowns, where you can smash into another opponent in order to temporarily render them out of play. An awards system is also present, which gives awards to objectives you achieve as you're racing, such as hitting a particular Target or getting multiple Frags. Targets, however, pretty much lead me to my next point.

The game now introduces a destructive environment, where almost everything can be smashed into. DICE ain't got anything on the amount of buildings and coffee shops you'll be smashing through, as the amount of destruction the player will be causing to the city can put a smile on his/her face. And yes, there's explosions too.Small explosions.Big explosions.Michael Bay-approved explosions.

Aside from the carnage, there's a game mode that I'd like to recall: Shindo racing. This is pretty much the standard racing game mode, where there's no frags and no driving into buildings. Instead, you race against other Shindo class opponents around the city, with the winner being the first across the line. The game also features Time Attack, where you race against the clock in order to beat the timer.

One of the game's bigger selling points is the track editor. This allows users to build up their own personal cities for other players to violently smash through. Track pieces are unlocked as the player progresses through the single-player and multi-player. However, I found that making a city isn't exactly the best time-investing thing to do, but the option will be there should I choose to do so.

This game often goes on sale, and when it does, it's very cheap. I picked up Unbounded with all the DLCs for less than $4 during the Steam Winter Sale of 2014. The game made up the $3.74 I paid for it quite well, providing a solid single-player experience with the added addition of multiplayer (which, admittedly, I haven't gotten to yet).

TL;DR: Ridge Racer Unbounded is a game that I'd recommend as a means of trying new things. The revamped gameplay plus the added ability to create your own personal city to tear through offers a very entertaining experience for the racer fanatic. The single-player is a pretty decent experience, but it allows you to understand how the game works, so that you can begin dominating other players online.

I don't know what this game is supposed to be. As a racing game it is unexciting, and as a destruction game it doesn't have enough explosions. There aren't enough cars, at least not enough choice early on. Colours are limited.Winning is difficult. It is a drifting game.